12/6/09

The Bad Idea

I need a new project like a hole in the head. The FXR is getting torn apart this week for a freshening, my Triumph project is still a collection of mismatched crappy old parts and now I own a Chinese copy of a Russian copy of a 1938 BMW. WTF?! My new friend Arto tipped this thing over a while back and has been getting tired of looking at it ever since. He took a ridiculous offer being the nice guy that he is 'cause he knows my kids will have a blast tooling around the 'hood pretending to shoot mini van drivers from the side car. It's the last thing I need, but so damn neat. The design is typical BMW, so many cool bits and great engineering, but the craftsmanship of the Chinese can barely be called that. I'm stoked it's the flathead design, not the faster OHV, but the side-valve heads look like a gorilla got drunk and made them with his feet. That's OK, nothing a little elbow grease and maybe a Honda CX500 engine can't cure. The goal is to spend as little as possible, get it running again and other than joy-riding with the kids maybe use it to shoot some riding footage from. or maybe mount a machine gun, I haven't really decided yet. Thanks again, Arto!